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zero one South State Street in mill Creek. It's the Motor sports Land Mega Tent event on this Friday afternoon. Happy Valentine's Day to you. Happy Valentine's Day to you.
Andy Larson. How are you, buddy?
I'm good man. How are you?
How many hearts are you breaking tonight? What you What are your plans? And I know that you've got to I know you have a bevy of options. What have you landed on?
Dozens of heartbroken? I gotta keep it a surprise. I can't. I can't just say on the radio what we're going to be doing. Okay, I'm just saying that. So I've got no plans.
Okay, well, you know, like the Andy Larson list of holiday celebrations is a little bit a little bit off kilter at times. I know you're a big Cinco de Mayo fan, so I thought maybe you're just hitting the town tonight.
I have no idea.
I mean, hitting the town is an option. Yeah, I would say TBD is is my approach to Valentine's Day night.
Okay, fair enough, Andy, let's do the cliche media corny Valentine's Day thing. What do you love about the first half of the season from the Utah Jazz?
They are successfully thanking? Yeah, you know, like that they only have thirteen wins is I think probably a good thing for the franchise overall. I mean, this is something that you and I have talked about for the last couple of years, right Like, is that it's been difficult to build a team when you have the ninth and tenth pick in the draft, and if you have a top five pick or a top three pick, all of a sudden, you get a lot better player, and all of a sudden you can start to build a core
around what you're doing. And uh, that's now where the Jazz are, Right Like, they're the third in the Tank de Fon list, if you will, and ultimately have a better than fifty percent chance at a very good DRAFTIC next year.
So it's uh, it is challenging to cover the team day to day when you know what the deal is and you know what they're trying to accomplish, and ultimately they will not be serious about winning for a number of years. But I do feel like there are some things that have started to maybe manifest a little bit that might be real.
So let's dig into a few of them.
And let's start with a player that you know, I think a lot of people have been talking about as of late, not just here locally but nationally because Asaiah call your Leeds rookies.
In assists, He's.
Set the Jazz rookie record for double digit assist game. I think he has seven to ten plus assist game No. Eight because he had another one. I believe now some of his decisions sometimes like, oh, yes, he was in high school two years ago. He turns the ball over a ton And as we've discussed, if you're going to be a twenty two percent three point shooter, you're not a garden pro basketball.
But tell me from your.
Vantage point, what you've seen from him that may indicate that he is moving in the right direction.
Yeah, I think a couple of things. One, you know, you mentioned the passing, and I think you have seen more high at this fewer turnover games last night, definitely, notwithstanding when he had seven turnovers, but in general has
been playmaking at a higher and better rate recently. I think some of that's because he's gotten up and transition more and he's so fast on the ball, and Will Hardy says he's even he thinks he's doing faster now at this point in the year than earlier in the year, just because he's slimmed down a little bit over the course of the NBA season and that's really helped. And then, honestly, the biggest thing is that the shooting is wild. The percentages are still not great from a season point of view,
it has been better in recent games. I mean, he went three of six last night. The shot looks more consistent. You know, I thought earlier in the year it was the role of the dice what kind of shot form you would get from Isaiah And you know, now it looks like he's wrecked it out a little bit and it looks nearly the same every time. That's that's a
good sign. So yeah, like I think, like you said, the shots have to be there in order for him to be a league guard in the NBA, but you're seeing more and more signs with him having the ball in his hands. And I think the thing I like most about him is that he is a true point guard and there are just so few of those guys right now. You know, he's not trying to take too many shots, he's not necessarily trying to do too much in every play he defends, he but he's mostly trying
to set up his teammates. And I think that bodes well for the Jazz's front court. You know, Lowry Markinhon and Walker Kessler, like those guys are guys who need assists in order to score efficiently, and Isaiah looks like a player who may be able to provide them, you know, for for the years to come.
Let's just go down the list since we're at the All Star break and do just a little like look back before we get to potentially some exciting things down the stretch.
And with with Isaiah's.
Implementation into the starting lineup, that book Kiante George on the bench coming off the bench. I mean, look, I don't care who you are, what level you're playing. I don't care if you John Havlichak or Jordan Clarkson. When the coach comes to you and says, hey, you're coming off the bench, you take it as a demotion.
You just do, and you were. I think you.
Articulated kind of Kyante's body language in a way that indicated maybe initially he was pretty bummed out, which I totally get. He wasn't great last night, but he was really good against the Lakers. And I will reiterate what I've been saying about Kiante honestly since last year. Just my analysis of who he is as a pro basketball player for a team that is trying to win is a combo scoring guard off the bench, just like Colin Sexon is, in my opinion, just like Jordan Clarkson is
in my opinion. And so I like that Will has decided to try to do this because they have to figure out who he is when they're good again and if he is going to be part of the equation. So give me the Andy Larson take the good and the bad with the sample side as we have with Kyante coming off the bench as opposed to starting as a lead guard.
Yeah, I think his approach has been a little bit better, right, Like I think in the starting lineup he was way too he coasted way too much on the defensive end, right, And that's frankly, the one thing I want to and need to see change from him is because, like you know, I think he can stand to eliminate a couple of really bad shots the game. But he does get to the free throw line well, he does playmate well, and
he has been passing the ball pretty well too. Like I don't think he's like a totally selfish player, he does need to like tune up the offensive efficiency. The problem is the defensive end, right, And like, you don't have to be an excellent defensive player to be a guard in the NBA and a starting lineup, but you have to at least try right, and you have to try to stay in front. You have to try to
be part of a team concept. You have to try to rebound, you have to try to box out, you have to try to you know, shift down when when opponents are driving and on one of your teammates and all that kind of stuff, and frankly, he was just skipping all those responsibilities. I think he's been a little bit better in in that way in the defensive side of the ball coming off the bench, and maybe just because that was kind of a wake up call for him. He still doesn't know what to do at you know,
at all times. And you know, still if he's playing as a two, all of a sudden, six four is now kind of normal size rather than good size for a point guard, right, so still needs to kind of figure out how to use his body and how to be there on rotations and that kind of thing. But you know, we thought he's never been coached defense before in his life. He told us right like, he said, Will Hardy was the first coach that's ever gotten on
him on the defensive end before. And while that's crazy that a player can make it to the NBA as a and never has been been coached defense before, I kind of believe it in an AAU world where you know, he's been a five star prospect his whole life. So look, development is definitely needed there. But I've been encouraged by at least him kicking a step forward on the defensive end because he will need that in order to stick in the league.
It's the low hanging fruit.
But while we're talking about exciting developments and looking for positive things for a fan base that's probably frustrated about lack of results, we just have to continue, in my opinion, to acknowledge what Walker's done this year and just kind of tipped the cap to clearly an off season of dedicated, intentional work as opposed to spending it with the team USA situation a couple of off seasons ago that may have not been the right thing for him at that point in his development.
He's up to twelve boards a game, he's four.
And a half offensive rebounds a game, two and a half block shots, and you could tell every time he doesn't play, you can tell what a big hole it leaves. I've you know, I was not crazy about the initial reaction from certain members of the media in our market about, oh, how Walker's already better than Rudy and he does things better than Rude, Like, you can save me with it. He's got a marathon to go go as a Hall
of Famer. But the difference, the stark difference defensively when Walker sits, does remind me a little bit of the non go bear minutes back in the day when those teams were going. Just at the All Star break, how would you articulate, you know, your thoughts on the growth from Walker Kessler so far this year.
Yeah, look, I am a Walker Kessler you know. Look, I voted him Merphy of the Year, right like famously controversially, I do like Walker Kessler. I have to acknowledge, like he's not close to Rudy Gobert. I think he does a couple of things better, but like just does not have the impact that Rudy Gobert does. And even now, you know, Rudy not being in his prime anymore, still is a better player than Walker Kessler. That being said, Walker Kessler is a really good player now and might
be having the best season of any Jazz man. I mean, like, I think he's he's either first or second in the league an offensive rebounding percentage. He's either I think he's second in the league in block percentage behind Victor Wenbanyama. Like he is an elite rim protector and an elite
rebounder right now. And obviously that's a tremendous face. I mean, just giving the Jazz those extra possessions, giving the Jazz a chance to get out on the break, giving the Jazz the chance to bend the shop profile of their opponents is really good. There's still a lot of work left to be done, to be clear, you know, like can he do more on the offensive end? Can he become a better defender else on the court besides just
at the rim? For sure? And I think, you know, we've been talking to Will Hardy about those things over the last couple of last week or so, But you know, you have to be impressed with the way he bounced back in a sophomore season. Heck, even when I thought he had a bad game or really just bad first half against the Lakers on Monday, he came back and had an excellent performance on Wednesday against against the same
team at the Delta Center. So kind of some of the like mental resilient stuff that I think was a real question mark in year two, He's answered those stouts in year three, And that's maybe what I'm impressed with most. So, like he looks like a legitimate holding block. And you understand why the Jazz turned down trade offers for him this at the deadline, because I think he again is a piece of the future.
A few months ago, you caused some sleepless nights in my life when you told me that out of the first and the second year of players, you were most bullish on the future of Kyle Philipowski. And I do want to revisit that to see if you're still there, and you might be and you might be right. I mean, it's just you know, at the time, I'm thinking this was before and we'll get to Cody.
In a moment. But you got a top ten guy.
You've got a you know, a second year player in Kyante that already had some usage, and we didn't at the time, Isaiah had not been really inserted into the rotation, let it on the starting lineup. But last night, Andy, I thought that was potentially if it wasn't his best game of his rookie season, it was one of them, you know, twenty and ten.
He started at center. You know, Zubots is a big dude, man.
He Vika Zubats caused a lot of problems for a lot of people, and I thought Kyle held up for the most part with the physicality in place of Locker, who did not play so in a vacuum your thoughts on last night, and then as we panned back, your thoughts on Kyle's rookie year.
Yeah, you know, it's funny. I think he played so well at the beginning of the year for the first couple of weeks, and then was largely invisible for a couple of months there. Right. Last night was a really good sign. It was his career high twenty points, ten rebounds. Like you said, the Clippers didn't guard him at all when I went back and watched all those clips, and so it's like, you know, you have to take it
with a grain of salt. Is if he does start doing that consistently, they're gonna he's going to be guarded, right, But I do think he It was really encouraging, like you said, what he did against Zubach on the defensive end, and he's starting to figure out over the last couple of weeks more of kind of what he can go to at the NBA level. He's got a nice little
floater from ten feet that he can use. He's competing more on the glass, and it's getting a little bit better on kind of getting to his spots of the defensive end. I don't think he's there yet and he's still you know, skinnier than he will be two or three years down the road, where when I think he can be more of an interior force. But like he's starting to figure that kind of stuff out at a
at a higher level, which is good. Like you, you know, I think i'd now take Isaiah over him in kind of the if we're power ranking these six rookies and sophomore. But I do still think really pretty highly of Kyle because of all the things that he can do on the basketball court and that he doesn't make too many mistakes either on either end.
All Right, I want to ask you about marketing because you wrote a piece on his numbers and I've been you know, talking about and you got to be careful here because there are a lot of reasons. You know, we forget when Larry was first here a couple of years back, but started the season with a point guard named Mike Conley, and he actually had some grown ups playing alongside of him the year he made the All starts, and no part of me is worried about Lowry long term.
But the numbers are the numbers, and you're a data guy, and his splits almost across the board are down. It was a nice reminder watching that Laker game that yes, Lowry is awesome. And for Jazz fans like I wait, okay, what do we have here?
What?
What?
What is on this roster that's real and tangible and I can grasp onto Well, Larry's not a contract long term and it's a lot of money, but they paid him a lot of money because he is a really good player. And I think the Laker game certainly reminded me a lot of people of just how good Lowry is. But like I said, numbers down across the board, you wrote about it, let's unpack it.
Yeah, I mean, look at I would totally understand being worried about that, especially having not watched the games, you know, and I think there are a lot of Jazz and
we are watching games right now. Look at Lowry's basketball reference page and get worried a little bit given that you just gave him two hundred and thirty million dollars, right, And I got to say, as someone who does watch every game and is around Lowry in the locker room and has asked him about this, it's like, just I'm not worried at all because of how the Jazz's offense and how he has changed his game to set some other stuff up. So, first of all, he's just experimenting more.
This year, he leads the league in catch and shoot field goal pers Like he's coming off of screens and trying to hit like kind of play Thompson, moving threes or threes from like twenty eight feet out rather than the twenty three foot three point line, right, So he's taking harder shots than ever before and really nearly anyone in the league, which explains kind of the percentage downturn.
And then I think he's also getting fewer opportunities at they're in because the Jazz are playing Walker Kessler at center.
You know, so much of the last two years you had Walker in some of these lineups, but then they would stagger Lowry and Walker, so that you know, Lowry was playing when John Collins was center, Kelly Linok was center, and that allowed them to have nobody at the rim to kind of clog things up, and Lowry could get kind of easy dunks and looks at the rim those have been you know, have gone down a little bit, so he's getting fewer easy chances there. You know, I
think as the team developed a little bit. As Walker develops more of his perimeter ability, that should improve a little bit. But it does feel like a switch that they can kind of flip, and you know, they can say, hey, Lowry's you know, maybe this experiment this year, in this tanking year didn't work out. You know, you're not Klay Thompson. You are Lowry Marketing, and we want you to kind of play like you have in the last two years.
And they can go back and do that. I you know, I think kind of the experiment is worthy to see, Hey, how much can we expend Lowry's game. I'm not sure that the results have been there so that you're confident, Hey, this experiment has worked out. But this is the year to try new things with Lowry, to see how good he can become, to see if he can be a top ten player in the league. And while I think the answer is pay probably not, it's you know, this is the year to mess around with stuff like that.
All right, one more individual player question before we move on, and I guess the way I'll pose this is what's fair to say about Cody?
What's fair to say about Cody Williams, who's.
Had a litany of health issues, been in and out, spent some time with the Stars.
Who's only twenty years old.
But he's a top ten pick, and I just think it's fair to say that if you're going to draft somebody in the top ten, you just want it to look a little bit better then it has so far for Cody, I'm not writing him off, nor am I anointing him. But last individual player question, your thoughts on the first portion of the rookie season for Cody Williams.
Yeah. I mean, statistically, he's been the worst player in the NBA this year, and it just struggles to make an influence on games, either offensively or defensively. You know, I think some of that is his body. Obviously he's extremely scared. I think some of that is his brain. He does seem pretty like he's I don't want to use the word complacent, but he's yeah, pretty reserved and wants to kind of stay out of the way and and will kind of, you know, give the ball to
his teammates and not take some shots. He's also complacent kind of on again, not using the word complacent, but reserved on the glass. For example, his rebounding numbers are low. His his block and steel members are low. He's just not doing anything out there when he's on the floor, which you know leads to performances last night when he had two point zero rebound, zero zero steels, four thousand and three turnovers like that's that's as as rough as
it gets. I will say, I went back and looked yesterday at the history of rookies who have had rookie seasons like this, and it is not promising. There are some role players who did figure it out, though, you know, I think maybe your best hope is Auto Porter Junior had a really rough rookie season before kind of figuring it out. You can say, hey, maybe you can see some kind of you know, group comparisons, there some similarities there that maybe, hey, he figures it out and you know,
becomes a useful role player in the league. But it's a really long path for him, and he's got to improve in a bunch of different areas in order to really make.
It all right.
Last Jazz question, we'll do a little little RSL since they're back there.
They're back coming up this week.
The latest projections as far I mean, look, and you never know, because the lottery is the lottery and there's some flat nods. So if the Jazz finish in the bottom three I believe maybe it's the bottom four now that I'm looking at it, they'll have a chance to grab that number one pick, among the best chances in all of pro basketball. But if they don't get one, who is Cooper flag And you know, I've heard some of the people and it's just irritated. It's like the
same people during the Weimbin Yama Draft. They're like, well, I kind of like Scot and you're like, shut.
Up, man, like, don't do that, don't be that guy.
This feels like as the year goes along, it's Cooper and then there's a big gap. But if it's not number one, and it's number two or number three, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, the two Wreckers kids, Now Rutgers is not going to make the tournament. And it's rough that a college basketball team with two of the top three draft picks will not be an NCAA tournament team.
But if it isn't one, and we're.
All hoping it is, because Cooper feels like a generational talent, give me your just a quick thought on you know, whether or not Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey is somebody the Jazz fans can start watching with some excitement.
Yeah, I think I think honestly, both of them are. And I do think like there is a clear teer gap between all three of those guys, right Like, So it's not a hey, three guys you can you know, you can draft interchangeably depending on your need. I think it's pretty clear Cooper Flag is better than Dylan Harper is better than Ace Bailey as as prospects. Right Like,
you just have nearly no questions about Cooper Flag. You have a couple of like kind of upsidy questions on Dylan Harper, and then you have Ace Bailey, questions about how he fits into a team scheme and how he actually you know, like he's a trific shot maker, but does he help you, does he make his teammates better?
Does he help you in games in other ways? That being said, I think all three of them are very very good prospects, are all star kind of level prospects, and are worthy kind of building blocks to add to this team. And so, you know, I think this team you can imaginate Dylan Harper, Isaiah call your backward and that's pretty promising Cooper Flag just because he is so good at nearly every aspect of basketball, especially as a
kid who just turned eighteen in December. What he's doing really may be the college player of the year, and that's that's just awesome for someone who's as young as he is. Would be best case scenario. And then, like you know, if a Bailey, it's given how many shots he makes, how tough of shots he makes, given his size, there's a lot to work with there, and and you know, the Jazz could use a shot maker and someone who could kind of take the defensive pressure off of guys
like Lowry and Walker. So yeah, I think all three of those guys again, Jazz fans should be excited about
should they end up with a top three pick. You know, there's a what is it, a forty two percent chance of getting one of those guys if they end up in that bottom three, and that's that's what you're hoping for, you know, kind of again worst case scenarios you have this season and then you lose in the lottery and you're you're picking six or seventh, and then you clearly are you know, it doesn't look like it's going to be a star player, but just kind of another piece,
and you're you're really just rebuilding moving forward.
All right, Andy, before I set you loose two part question about the lads, then I'll let you go. First of all, I need the Andy Larson take on the new Kits. Okay, I know Andy has strong feelings whenever they have new kids, So I need your take on the kids, and then level, on a scale of one to ten, your level of optimism for an exciting RSL season sounds.
Like what.
Yeah, Okay, so Kits. I like them a lot, honestly.
Oh wow.
When I heard that they were doing checkerboard, I was kind of expecting smaller squares, I guess, and was a little bit concerned.
But I think they looked pretty good. I think they look good with the blue shorts. I think they look I think I liked that they did something bold. Think I like that, you know, I think they look good on the players. I'm excited to buy one.
I thought the Grid City kind of promotional video that RSL did around it was well done. Yeah, I honestly am pretty impressed with the kids the last couple of years and thinking I'm really kind of impressed with RSL's marketing team and frankly also Adidas to work with them to make hits that I think like fit what the club is and also are pretty cool looking in a way that you know, the Jazz have sometimes failed to
do over the course of the last year. And and then the team I am concerned, you know, like I guess I'm cautiously optimistic about the use and the winger, you know, like Starminick Marzuka, I think is a is a good player. You've got Diego Luna on the left. I'm worried about Diogo in the middle, and just frankly has not looked that good in pre season, did not look that good at the end of the regular season. Maybe frankly a designated player bust. And that's the concern.
And then you have you're you're relying on some backups that at to start at forward and clearly you're not good enough there. So Ursel needs to make an addition there, you know. I talked to RSL GM kerch Schmid for
an article that came out on Monday about that. He says they hope to add someone in this transfer window, but says that it may have to wait until summer, I might ramp up the uh the intensity of that search a little bit to get a better striker in sooner and kind of use some of the Gomez money, the Chicho money, the Fidel Barajas money. Even defense is still worry for me. I do think Urso has a terrific midfield like that is clearly the strong point of the team. And then I'm excited to see change at
the keeper position. To have a veteran thirty three year old Brazilian uh syria O guy in goal is really promising. So I guess scale of one to ten, I'm gonna call it a seven and then RSL can make it a nine or a ten, depending on what signings they have between now and the closure of the window.
All Right, Andy, will go easy on the ladies tonight. I know how you roll at times. So it's Valentine's Day, so just lead with love. Okay, That's all I'll say before I set you loose on a Friday.
Right, I need to give you the same advice as well. Well.
Okay, well played.
Andy Larson covers the Utah Jazz for the Salt Lake Tribune. I always appreciate Andy's time. Make sure you're following him on social at Andy B. Larson is where you find him live today at the Motor Sportsland Mega ten event giving away a guided ATV excursion with our friends here at Motor Sportsland.
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